Starlight
by innocentthing
Summary: Finn and Flame Princess's relationship has lasted a long time, and even though the fact that she's made of fire has presented so many difficulties for them, that night they were dancing, spinning, and she reminded him of starlight.
1. Chapter 1

**For my latest painting project, we had to choose a song & do an abstract and literal painting of it. I chose this song because it's amazing, and I must've listened to it 200+ times while doing this project. So, of course an idea for a fic would come of all this! This is in Flame Princess' POV, but that's easy to tell.**

**I am not affiliated with Adventure Time or Taylor Swift.**

* * *

_Picked me up late one night, out the window,_

_We were seventeen and crazy_

_Running wild, wild_

_Can't remember what song it was playing when we walked in_

_The night we snuck into a yacht club party_

_Pretending to be a duchess, and a prince_

Truthfully, it's surprising how long Finn and I have managed to stay together. I mean, it's not really easy to hold a relationship with_ anyone_ when you're a fire elemental – not even other fire elementals (maybe _especially; _after all, double the fire means double the over-the-top emotions) – and when you can't even touch that person without causing them some kind of serious injury, it takes an emotional toll on you. It's even worse when you're the _princess_ of this Fire Kingdom.

Maybe that's why every time Finn didn't turn away or stop seeing me or break up with me or anything of that nature - maybe that's why I loved him a little more each time it _didn't_ happen.

And he _could_ have stopped this at any time. He didn't even need to start it – I mean, I probably wouldn't have, if it was me getting burned so badly – so that first year we were together was filled with a lot of challenges. I could tell it bothered him, hurt him, that he couldn't even touch me, really, unless he was wearing those oven mitts or wrapped in tinfoil – and that wasn't even truly touching anyway.

So maybe we've had a bit less of a physical relationship than he'd hoped for. But it's okay, because we still always manage to have fun together, running around Ooo, enjoying each other's company while exploring dungeons, fighting monsters, _burning everything to the ground - _

Er, I mean, saving people?

That was another thing. I had to keep reminding myself that burning was bad. Well, it was normal to us in the Fire Kingdom, but for _some_ reason, Finn was pretty adverse to it...

So I've tried to keep myself more under control, in that aspect. It was only fair, really – after all, he was defying nature for me, so why shouldn't I do the same for him?

And somehow, despite all of those challenges and more, we've managed to stay as boyfriend and girlfriend for like, three years. Though, honestly, even though I said he was my boyfriend first, I still blush when he refers to me as his girlfriend, even after all this time.

But even though we were pretty serious bizz about our relationship at this point – no longer was it just running around and hanging and acting careless, there are a lot more deep conversations and pondering the challenges we had to face, and just seriousness – even so, there were things we kept from another. Usually just small things, like, even though he'd tell me he was going on some quest in the Water Kingdom, I knew he was really just hanging around with that Princess Bubblegum half the time. I knew that she could never love him like I do (who could? No one, that's who), but the fact that he had once had feelings for her, even if he no longer did, well, it made me jealous! Who wouldn't be? After all, she was older and more mature than him, and that was appealing to a guy, for some reason, and she was able to rule her kingdom on her own (unlike me, who's dad was still in charge and totally treats me like a kid, even though I'm almost seventeen now!) and pink and pretty much perfect. I know I'm far from perfect, and so my flames grow a little bit more whenever I think of her.

But I remind myself that they're just friends, just like Jake and Lady Rainicorn and Marceline (though sometimes, I had my suspicions about her as well), and friends need time to be together and hang out and do whatever they do (so long as it's not kissing, of course, because then I'd have to burn them). So, I try my best to calm down in those situations.

After all, I keep things from him as well.

Not big things of course. Just things like, say, the Flame Kingdom Ball that was held every five years.

To be honest, I didn't ever mention it to him not because I didn't want him to be there, but because _I _didn't want to be there. It's been about three years, but my dad had kept me in that prison (for lack of a better term) for longer than that, and insisted I'm evil even longer than _that_ – to this day, even!

Every day since the date was announced (though I didn't hang out in my own kingdom much, word still got around to the outskirts of the kingdom, where my residence is pretty much permanent) I worried that somehow, word would reach Finn as well. After all, he and Jake covered every square inch of Ooo at some point, and I knew that he would find out – I just hoped that it would be after the ball was over and done with.

"Hey, FP!" Finn greeted as I approached his home. His head stuck out of the second floor window; I guess he'd been watching, waiting for me. He didn't have his hat on for once, and I liked it better that way, because I liked his hair – the way it moved reminded me of fire. He never let it grow out much anymore, but it wasn't too short either, just enough that the wind could rustle through it and mess it up. That's how I knew he'd been sitting at his window for quite some time – his hair was an absolute mess! But...it was also kind of cute.

"Hey, FTH!" I called back, waving. He smiled.

He let me in and we sat on the couch together. There was foil already set out for me to sit on, and I smiled at his consideration, even though I was used to it. I also noticed the absence of Jake, which usually meant Finn wanted to talk to me privately and seriously about something, and my chest tightened. _Please don't know, please don't know..._ I hoped.

"So, what's been going on by you?" he asked in a kind of awkward way. But that was expected – whenever these private, serious talks _did _happen, he always started them off awkwardly. We were both kind of awkward, but I guess that also attracted us to one another, in a way.

"Oh, nothing much," I smiled gently, "What about you?" We'd just seen each other two days ago, but it was still polite to ask. Also, I genuinely wanted to know if there _was _anything.

"Same here," he said, "It's been pretty quiet lately, in terms of bad dudes terrorizing Ooo." Finn became silent, like he was thinking, and I said nothing as well, knowing he was working his thoughts out. I immediately regretted not interrupting those thoughts. "So...How come you never told me about the Flame Kingdom Ball?"

"Finn -" I start, but he continues, cutting me off of my explanation.

"Like, do you just not want to see your dad? Or...maybe you're embarrassed of me? Or are you just afraid that I'll get burned, 'cuz Jake talked to Flambo and -"

"Finn." I assert myself, cutting _him_ off this time. "I just don't want to be there. That's all."

"Oh." He sounded disappointed, and it felt like something was cutting into my heart. "I just thought it'd be fun, y'know..." he trails off.

And I feel guilty. So guilty that it makes me angry – but at myself more than anyone else. I keep my flames under control (I've had a lot of practice, and it was paying off, day by day), and sigh.

"Do you really want to go?"

Finn perks up, and I can see my own light reflected, dancing in his eyes. "Heck yeah! I mean, only if you want to, of course."

"Well," I think, "Would it be okay if maybe we didn't go _into_ the actual ball? Maybe we could just stay outside and listen to the music from a distance and stuff?"

"Sure!" Finn was always willing to compromise, often without thinking.

I, also without really thinking, agreed.

"Great!" Finn exclaimed, and I could tell he was barely containing his excitement, as he jumped up, "It's tomorrow, right? Do you have a dress? Jake is helping me find something to wear, too, actually he's getting Flambo right now to put that charm or whatevs on me so I don't have to worry about getting burned." He grinned a toothy grin at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

In the back of my mind, I wondered if I would regret this.

* * *

This night, I had thought I'd be staying in my makeshift home, burning candles, or maybe hanging out with Finn in some casual kind of way – but instead, I was playing with my hair, changing the length of my dress, the style of my dress - because I was completely composed of fire, it was easy to change pretty much anything I wanted about myself. Except, of course, the fact that I was made of fire, because it would just be too helpful to this relationship if I could change myself into a human or something.

I settled with an up-do, because Finn liked my hair shorter, and a strapless dress that came down to my knees. It wasn't anything fancy, because no one would be able to see me anyway, aside from Finn, if this went as planned. I really just tailored my looks to his tastes (even though he always says I look nice, even when I know I don't).

I'd just finished perfecting the dress when I heard, "Flame Princess?" Finn parted the door to my home, stepping inside. I saw that he was also not dressed in his normal clothes; it was far from fancy attire, but it was a button-down shirt and long pants, and that was far enough outside of his comfort zone, I knew. "You...you look really nice," he blushed, and that made me blush as well.

"So do you," I smiled.

"Thanks," he smiled as well, extending his hand, "Ready to go?"

"Uh..." I stopped, looking at his hand questioningly.

"Oh! Right! Look, don't worry, Flambo did his thing. I'll be pretty much immune to the effects of flames for a few hours, so let's get going!"

I looked at him, hesitating. Flambo had already done this, so I may as well take advantage...but I must remember to talk to that little subject of mine when I see him next. There was a reason why we didn't just normally use this charm, and that's because doing so too often has detrimental effects. I didn't know what they were, and I didn't want to find out. But this was a special occasion (apparently), so it was okay, as long as it didn't happen again for another few years.

And so I placed my hand in Finn's, and he smiled wider than he already was. I smiled back at him; his face was so goofy.

It was only a short distance to my kingdom, and we had the castle in our sights. The ballroom, while inside of the castle, is towards the outside rather than the center of the building, so just as I had suggested, we didn't need to go inside to hear the music and enjoy ourselves. We avoided the guards and snuck around the back.

I was a little disappointed at first, because I didn't recognize the song, and honestly, that made me a bit shy, but Finn _never_ seemed to be shy, and even though I was sure he didn't know the song either, he twirled me around and around, leading our movements with expertise (I really didn't know that he could dance like this!).

The song ended as another began, and I was breathing a little heavily. I didn't know if he was good at dancing or if my inexperience just made it seem like he was.

"So, I have a question," Finn said, beginning to dance with me to the next song, "If you're a princess, and we've been going out for this long, what does that make me?"

I shrugged. It's not like we were married or anything, but we _were_ dating, so shouldn't there be some title for him? But I didn't know much about royal titles, having being locked up rather than being taught these things like most princesses.

He laughed. "I don't care, was just curious, really," he admitted, as he spun me close to him, our chests touching, "How about I'll be your boyfriend, that good?"

I smiled, giggled, and nodded.

"Yeah," I closed my eyes, "That's perfect."

* * *

**It was pretty easy to write in FP's POV since I'm very much a fire elemental myself haha. Probably two more chapters will come of this, so keep your eyes open!**


	2. Chapter 2

The chapter in which I try to remember 7th grade science class haha. Enjoy!

I am not affiliated with Adventure Time or Taylor Swift.

* * *

_He said, "Look at you,_

_Worrying too much about things you can't change._

_You'll spend your whole life singing the blues_

_If you keep thinking that way."_

_He was trying to skip rocks on the ocean,_

_Saying to me,_

"_Don't you see the starlight, starlight?_

_Don't you dream impossible things?"_

We must have been dancing for hours – or maybe it was just a few minutes – or maybe it was days; time was a tricky thing. And we were spinning and laughing and getting lost in each others' eyes, cheesy as that sounds, but it doesn't matter because I don't think I've ever been so happy.

And that happiness came crashing down to earth the second that Flambo's charm wore off.

"Ack!" Finn exclaimed, quickly stepping away from me, bouncing up and down, the burns evident on his hands from holding me, and his shoes were beginning to melt from the molten ground.

"Finn!" I gasped in concern as I realized what had happened, "C'mon, we've got to get out of the kingdom!" I exclaimed urgently, and we were both running as fast as we could until we were out of the land of fire. "Finn," I gasped once we'd stopped, "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so," he examined his hands, and winced, "I think I burned my feet..." Sure enough, a quick examination showed that the soles of his shoes had been mostly melted away from running over the fiery ground. I could see him wince.

"C'mon," I said, "We should get you to water so you can soak your feet. It'll help."

I see him look at me, but I can't recognize the emotion so rampant in his eyes as he slowly nods.

* * *

I watched from a bit of a distance as Finn eased his feet into the cool water, sighing in relief. He laid his hands on the surface, not completely submerging them, but slightly more than resting them upon it's surface. I stood back a safe distance; even though I knew he would never splash me or anything, I was still wary of the liquid.

We waited in silence for a few moments, Finn relaxing himself into the cool feeling of the calming water, and I trying to organize my thoughts. "I'm sorry," was all that I could come up with.

"What for?" Finn looked over his shoulders at me, puzzled.

"You got burned," I stated the obvious.

"Well...yeah," he noted, "I mean, I forgot to keep time, so it's my fault, really."

"_Your_ fault?!" I cried, and I could feel my flames growing, and for a second I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop. "How in Glob's name is this your fault? This is all _my_ fault, Finn, I never should have agreed to go to this stupid thing, I should have known...I _always_ hurt you..." I could feel my eyes close...it felt like everything was out of my control again.

"Flame Princess," Finn's voice brought me back, and slowly, I felt my flames becoming less intense. It felt like he was looking right into me, and I suddenly felt myself at a loss for words. "This is _not _your fault," he said firmly.

"But -"

"Stop," he said with the same firmness, and I could feel my flames going back to their normal intensity. "You can't blame yourself. I mean, this whole thing was my idea in the first place, and even though you tried to tell me no, I still pushed 'till you said yes. And then, I was the one who was supposed to keep track of how long the charm was supposed to last, and I didn't. So these burns are just a punishment for being so reckless. It's like if I didn't take necessary precautions for battling a bunch of rock golems and ran right into the fight anyway. Bruises and broken bones would be my fault then; these burns are my fault now."

"That's different," my voice came out quieter than I thought it would. It felt detached from my body. He could claim it wasn't my fault until he was blue in the face, but it wouldn't stop the incredible guilt I felt in the pit of my stomach, making me sick.

He didn't say anything for a moment, just sighed and looked up at the sky. There was silence for a few minutes, and I was unable to take it any longer when he finally said, "Y'know, PB once told me about some ancient book she'd found. Said those sparkles in the sky are made of balls of fire."

I blinked and looked up at the sky, trying to ignore that he'd mentioned that pink princess, lest I loose control again. "You mean the stars?"

He just nodded, not even looking at me.

"So?" I demanded, hands on my hips, "What do the stars have to do with anything?"

"Well," he started slowly, "We can't touch them. They're too far away, for one thing, and even if they were within touching distance, they're so big that they'd probably burn right through us before we could even get that close to them. Maybe they'd even burn through you, too. But even though we can only admire them from a bazillion miles away, we still always look up to them. I mean, don't you ever look up at the stars and think of how pretty they are?"

Whatever I was thinking of saying, I stopped and let my arms fall, and looked up to where my boyfriend's eyes were watching. For the first time, I wasn't just watching the stars – I was _looking _at them. To me, they still just looked like bright little specks (I'm not sure if he saw something more in them), but they were still pretty, and I thought about what he said, wondering if it was really true – if they were really that dangerous.

_Plip! Plip! Plop! _I heard, and snapped out of my thoughts. I must have been looking up for a while, because it looked like Finn had gotten bored and was skipping stones. At least this meant his hands were feeling better. I guess I felt a little braver about the body of liquid sitting cooly, reflecting the stars and the moon – or maybe I just wanted to be nearer to Finn – because I walked up and sat next to him, making sure to bring my knees up to my chest and hug my legs to avoid the water, of course.

"What was with that whole speech about the stars?" I asked, breaking the silence.

He looked at me, and I could see that feeling that I hadn't been able to identify before. It was pain – but not the same kind of pain like if he'd been burned – it was a different pain that maybe I didn't understand, and it was also longing. "I just didn't want you to feel so alone." My breath hitched, and I was unable to respond, so he continued. "I thought you could relate to the stars or whatevs; I mean, you might both be dangerous, but you're both beautiful, too..."

He trailed off, and I felt myself blush. "Y-You really think I'm beautiful? Even after all the times I've burned you?"

"It's not your fault," Finn shrugged. "You're a fire elemental. It's just in your nature, remember?" he smiled, and placed his hand next to mine. I tensed; even that could be enough to make him burn after a short period of time, but he wasn't afraid. I was more afraid than he was, really. I think he was waiting for me to smile back at him, but I just couldn't. He looked back up at the sky, and sighed. "I know you're afraid," he closed his eyes, "But these challenges just make us stronger. We're like the stars and Ooo. We compliment each other, right?"

"But they can't touch."

"So what? It doesn't make the relationship between them any less beautiful."

I felt the heat of my flames rising in me, but it wasn't in anger this time. I could tell I was blushing again, and I quickly looked around me. Finding an appropriately sized rock, I picked it up and kissed it, then passed it to Finn for him to do the same.

"Besides," he continued after completing our kind of kissing ritual, "If this were easy, it probably wouldn't be worth it. So stop worrying," he smiled, "These challenges keep us on our toes, and keep us together."

"How do you always know what to say?" I asked, and my voice sounded small. He looked at me and laughed.

"I dunno, usually I kinda wing it!" Well, I appreciated his honesty at least. "But seriously," he continued, a bit more serious, "I just don't want you to feel bad about things out of your control. It's not your fault," he assured again.

"But I do feel bad," I looked away, but I knew he was looking at me with a _'No it's not!' _kind of look, "I mean, I wish at least we could have stayed 'till the end of the dance tonight."

"Well, maybe we can," Finn said smiling.

I didn't know what he was thinking, but I trusted him, and smiled back.

* * *

One more chapter to go! Thanks for reading, stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

I just wanted to apologize to everyone who's been reading as I updated for how long this took me to update! I've been working on a lot of Artist's Alley things and school has been crazy so yeah. So thank you guys for being so patient.

This is the last chapter, so I hope y'all enjoy it!

I am not affiliated with Adventure Time or Taylor Swift.

* * *

_I said, "Oh my,_

_What a marvelous tune!"_

_It was the best night,_

_Never would forget how we moved_

_The whole place was dressed to the nines_

_And we were dancing, dancing_

_Like we're made of starlight, starlight_

_Like we dream impossible things..._

It was only every five years that the Flame Kingdom held their ball, but if you thought the Candy Kingdom or Lumpy Space was the number one place to hold a party, well then, you've never been to a party hosted by a fire elemental. Sure, they had candy and crazy party-goers on their side, but Fire Kingdom parties were just..._hotter._

Okay, so maybe I'm a little biased since I'm the princess of the Fire Kingdom. And I guess I was a little hesitant when Finn and I started heading in the pretty much opposite direction of my kingdom. He ran ahead, on the phone he always kept with him in case of an emergency – who he was talking to, though, I didn't know, as he made sure to keep out of my hearing – and I was just left wondering what the gunk he was planning.

So it was sort of anti-climactic when he stopped us just at the edge of the forest, his treehouse barely out of view.

"Um. What are we doing here?" I asked, tentatively.

"Uhh," Finn sounded nervous, "You'll see...Soon-ish..." He rubbed the back of his head. I was about to ask him what I was waiting to see when I saw a figure floating in our direction. I squinted my eyes to make out what it was, and within moments I realized it was -

"Marceline!" Finn waved. "Hey! Over here!"

My eyes narrowed. Of course I wasn't _jealous _of her! I was...curious as to what exactly was going on...

"Hey, Finn. FP," we'd never really met, but Marceline apparently had no problem addressing me so informally, "What's up?"

"Hey, Marcy," Finn greeted, and, to my embarrassment, I had to consciously keep my flames from growing any more at his nickname for her. "You – uh – you don't have your bass..."

"Yeah," the vampire shrugged, "I had a better idea. Thought you two might want a bit more...privacy," she winked at me, and I couldn't help blushing. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all... Suddenly, she produced and old music player, and placed it on the ground. "This way," she explained, "You guys can have your music, but you won't have to worry about me ruining your date or whatevs."

"Yeah right!" Finn waved her off, but I could see his face reddening. "Thanks, Marceline," he said, softer.

"Don't thank me yet," Marceline said, and landed on her feet in front of Finn as I watched on. She mumbled something incoherent, then poked him on the forehead. It looked like his entire body was illuminated, though maybe it was my imagination. He looked dumbfounded – in a cute kind of way, of course – and suddenly Marceline was laughing, floating away, as she called over her shoulder, "You've got an hour – don't gunk it up this time!"

"What was that about?" I asked softly after I was sure she was out of hearing range.

"Well, I called Marceline and asked if she'd mind playing a sort of private concert for us since we couldn't exactly go back to the flame kingdom's ball," Finn said, motioning to his burnt feet, "But apparently she decided to just leave us with a recording." Suddenly, he moved towards me, as if he was about to bring me into a dancing position again, but I jumped back before he could touch me.

"Finn! What are you doing!?" How could he not remember the events of only a few hours ago?

"Oh! Don't worry, FP!" he reassured, "Yeah, Marceline put some kinda charm on me – I mean, we've only got an hour, according to her – I guess she knows all kinds of charms and junk from living in the Nightosphere - she's like, super hooked up, I guess – but let's not worry about all the dets now, we can talk about it all you want after the hour's over." He smiled, and again reached toward me. This time, I let him.

And again, we were spinning – twirling, even – and laughing and...embracing. I didn't know that Marceline could play such sweet melodies like the ones I was hearing (I had to admit, they were pretty righteous), but these songs made our own, private "ball" become _real_.

"This is much better than dancing outside the castle," I told Finn as we were dancing to a particularly slow song, my body pressed up against his.

"Yeah," I could tell he was smiling, "I mean, I just wanted you to have a nice night. ...Are you? ...Having a nice night, I mean?"

I couldn't help but giggle. He was just too cute sometimes! "Yeah, tonight is tops bloopity." I smiled.

"Good."

And suddenly, just like that, our hour was up, and Finn was turning off the music. Still, I couldn't complain – sure, the night was over sooner than I had expected, but I also knew that it couldn't continue forever, and that the memories this night had given me were more than I could have ever asked for. It was definitely an evening I would remember for many years – probably forever.

And even though both charms had worn off that night, Finn still walked me home – well, as far home as he could go without catching on fire – which was really just to the edge of the Fire Kingdom, but it was better than nothing.

"Thank you for such a wonderful night," I tried to smile at him, but for some reason, had trouble meeting his eyes.

"No problem," I heard the smile in Finn's response. I blushed. I knew how important it was to him that I have a good time – he was always thinking of me. Suddenly, I felt him peck my cheek – a swift action so that his lips wouldn't burn too much. I finally looked up to him, and was positive I couldn't turn a deeper shade of red – I was blushing so hard! But I saw him smile with his charred lips, and I smiled back, and he turned and left, waving over his shoulder, calling, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow!" I replied, waving back, even though he couldn't see me. I smiled to myself.

Tonight was definitely not without it's flaws. But it still managed to be perfect. And it made me think of my future together with Finn. I mean, we'd been together this long, maybe we could make it forever. Even if we didn't, nights like these would always be prevalent in my mind.

But I think we could make it.

We were like the stars.


End file.
